


She's Around Me Now Almost all the Time

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Feels Like Heaven [19]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 20:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6392380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I come home in the evening and you're here or you'll be here and it’s good.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	She's Around Me Now Almost all the Time

“Hi! Hi! Hi, hi, hi!”

Noah came running for his mother as she walked in the door with Sergeant Mike Dodds. He was carrying a box so he couldn’t stop the small, fast-moving child, who seemed to have flour and other food ingredients all over him.

“I got him!” Ed swooped in and grabbed him before he could attack Olivia’s black pants. He lifted Noah into the air and onto his shoulder. “Got him.”

“Hi!” Noah exclaimed.

“Hello, my love.” Liv smiled. She walked over to Ed and got on her tiptoes. “Give mommy a kiss.”

Noah bent down and did what she asked. He put his hands on her face, leaving flour marks there.

“This is a little messy.” Liv smiled.

“Yeah, Noah and I made dinner and dessert. There are cupcakes in the oven.” Ed said.

“I knew something smelled good.” Mike smiled.

“Sergeant.” Ed nodded.

“Captain.” 

“Hey Noah, do you remember Mike?” Liv asked.

“Hi there Noah, gimme a high five.” Mike balanced the box with one hand and held out his other. Noah smacked it, leaving a small plume of flour dust in his wake.

“I didn’t want to stay at work too late but Mike and I are working on something. I was expecting Lucy.”

“I didn’t have the best day.” Ed said. “So I got off early and relieved her. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind.” Liv shook her head. “Is the kitchen as messy as the child?”

“I was cleaning as we went along…mostly. I’ll hose him down while you and Sergeant Dodds handle business. There's spaghetti in the kitchen with turkey and Italian sausage meatballs. You're welcome to have some if you're hungry. Excuse us.”

Ed and Noah turned and walked toward the nursery. Liv directed Mike to put the box on the dining room table before excusing herself as well.

“Take your time, Lieutenant. I’ll set up these folders.”

Liv took her coat off, threw it across a dining room chair, and then went into the nursery. Ed was undressing Noah, who was being as squirmy as usual when such things occurred.

“Hey.” She said as she walked in.

“Hmm?” Ed stood and turned around, surprised when she rushed into his arms. The kiss was passionate and full of promise.

“I didn’t get a chance to say a proper hello.” She kissed him again.

“I don’t have a problem kissing you hello in front of Dodds. Did you bring a lot of work home?”

“Work.” Noah repeated.

“I did, but we’ll work for about an hour and then wrap it up. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you made dinner.”

“Noah has to eat. I don’t want to overstep my bounds but I don’t know if he should be hanging around near crime scene photos and crime talk. Should I just feed him in here and put on Elmo after his bath?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “And we've had the overstepping conversation Ed, how many times.”

“I know but he's your son. I'm never going to presume…”

“We’ll talk about it later. Someone needs a bath and he's only going to sit still for about 45 more seconds.”

They both looked back at Noah, who was sitting on his bed like the sweet angel he could sometimes be. He was seconds from detonation.

“Go.” Ed said, kissing her one more time and sending her out of the room. He turned back to Noah as Liv was leaving. “Alright, Mister, let's get you in the tub.”

In her living room, Mike had started spreading folders onto the table. He was smart enough not to have opened them up and have any photos showing. He'd hung up his coat on the rack, which Liv was about to do as well, rolled up his sleeves, and was ready to get to work.

“Are you hungry, Dodds? Apparently we have spaghetti.”

“No, I'm sure my…” he paused. “I can just grab something at home, thanks Lieutenant.”

“We’re not at the precinct anymore, Mike. And no one calls me Lieutenant.”

“I always call you Lieutenant.”

“You don’t have to. I get it, we didn’t know each other and the ground beneath us was a little shaky. As far as I'm concerned, it’s not that way anymore. Also, this is about the third time you’ve been smack in the middle of my personal life so you can tell me all about your partner.”

Mike was about to speak when an egg timer went off and scared the hell out of both of them.

“Oh hell, the cupcakes.” Ed came running out of the bedroom and all Liv could do was laugh. This wonderful, domesticated mess was her life and she loved it. She loved the big, bad IAB captain pulling cupcakes from the oven, apologizing for the interruption, and then rushing back to the bedroom. He and Noah came out a few minutes later and headed for the bathroom.

“What’s his name?” Liv asked, sitting down at the table and waving for Dodds to join her.

“Who?” Mike asked.

“Your partner.”

“Oh, um…James. I don’t really…”

“I'm not trying to embarrass you, Dodds, believe me. But we all work closely together and I don’t like to brag but I'm also a pretty good detective. I thought you were in a relationship and just didn’t want to say. Its fine, but I want to see pictures.”

“You want to see pictures?” Mike couldn’t even believe what he was hearing.

“You’ve seen my partner, now show me yours. C'mon, just one; we’ll make it as painless as possible.”

Mike sighed and took his phone out of his pocket. Queueing up his gallery, he scanned through for a while, found one, and handed the phone to Olivia.

“We ran a half-marathon in Poughkeepsie last year. Both came in the top 20.”

“Oh my god, he's gorgeous. This is your partner?”

“Yes…James.”

“His pictures should be all over your desk; look at that face.”

“Lieutenant,” Mike took the phone and put it back in his pocket. “We have some work to do.”

“I know but if I was going home to James at night I would totally have a one track mind. He is very handsome.”

“He's a wonderful person and I care for him very much.”

“I still say you should have his picture on your desk. The job can get tough. Having someone you love close, even in a frame, can make it better.”

“I have my phone. I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. Unless everyone already knows and I'm just fooling myself.”

No one had said a thing to her about Mike’s sexual orientation and Olivia had no idea what might be whispered when she wasn’t around. Being gay wasn’t a crime though and if Mike was with someone who loved and cared for him then he should consider himself lucky. She knew that she was, even on days when she felt like packing it in. Olivia could hardly imagine what his father must think about it, which was probably some of the reason Mike kept his relationship to himself. But she wanted him to know that he could always be open and honest with her. He was her #2, had earned it through some pretty rough shit, and Liv would have his back.

“We should probably get to it.” She said, opening one of the folders. “Now tell me what you see and how it might affect the two cases we have in Manhattan.”

***

“I'm glad you got the quiet dishwasher installed.” Ed walked into the bedroom in his boxers and tee shirt. “The last one sounded like it was going to break every dish and then explode for good measure.”

“It wasn’t really a selling point on the apartment but I feel your pain.” Liv looked up from her Kindle. “I really love that tee shirt by the way. It’s very you.”

“You think?”

“I do. Even though there's still flour on the back.”

“Is there?” Ed took off the Superman tee shirt and looked at it. 

Sure enough there were random flour marks on there and also Noah’s handprint. He smirked some before putting it in the laundry hamper. Some of his tee shirts now resided in Liv’s second dresser drawer. He took out another to wear to bed.

“I love that you and Noah cook together.” She said.

“Well cooking relaxes me.” Ed said. “And I thought it would be a fun thing I can teach him. I know he's just two but he retains a lot of information. Plus I can teach him new words, new actions, and we get messy all at the same time. I think that might be the key to everything…getting messy.”

“I come home in the evening and you're here or you'll be here and it’s good.”

“I'm glad it’s good.” Ed sat down on the bed. He took his hand in hers and kissed it. “I miss my dog though. I thought about going home tonight; I never want Ronin to feel abandoned. That dog has been my constant companion for six years. And I know Sean takes care of him when I'm not around but he doesn’t put in the extra effort. Which is fine since Ronin isn't his dog. He's my dog.”

“Why don’t you just bring him here?” Liv asked. “It’s not a problem. We’ll pay the pet fee.”

“He’s a dog, Liv. You want a dog and a toddler?”

“Your dog, my toddler…our place.”

“Seriously?” Ed asked.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “We’ll have to move some things around, make some concessions but this place is definitely big enough for the three of us and for a retriever. And I don’t even know if you want to give up your freedom but…”

“You know that I want to be with you and Noah. I never thought to bring it up, I thought it might be too soon and I didn’t want to push. I'm kinda still waiting for you to wake up and remember you hate me.”

“I love you, Edward Tucker.”

“How dare you?” he took her face in his hands and kissed her. “I love you too.”

“So move in with me. Let's make this a thing.”

“Define thing.”

“You and me.” Liv replied.

“Like a _thing_ thing? Like a permanent thing. Are we talking about a thing with papers?”

“You got another pressing engagement, Captain?”

“Liv…”

Ed was struck dumb. Was she talking about marriage? Was she just talking about living in sin? Was she talking about something else altogether and he was unaware of an all new category? He was afraid to ask. 

He was afraid that he was reading it all wrong and would get his feelings smacked into pieces. They had only been together for 10 months, though what a ride it had been. He was sure that he was in love with her and loved her son. He was sure that he could pledge his love for her on a stack of Bibles and never leave. He was sure he was ready for joint bank accounts, joint vacations, and joint burial plots. 

But Ed hadn’t said a word. That was a scary thing to put in front of a person and Olivia had experienced enough scary for the time being. Not to mention that he sometimes feared that she would wake up and remembered she hated him. He'd only been half joking about that.

“It doesn’t have to be tomorrow.” She leaned in and gave him Eskimo kisses. “But it’s what I want. I want us and this and I want it for good. But we can take our time. I'm too old to beat around the bush anymore. I'm too old not to grab this happiness by the horns and hold on for the ride.”

“You're not so old.” He said, smiling from ear to ear.

“Bring your dog over this weekend. Bring your clothes, your single cup coffeemaker, and that thing you do pull ups on for over the door.”

“Are you sure?” Ed had to ask one more time. He had to make sure he was hearing all of this correctly.

“I'm really, really sure.”

“C'mere, baby.”

Ed pulled her into his arms and Olivia straddled his lap and held on. She was sure. She was sure she was in love and was sure that nothing had ever quite felt like this. It was love and there was lust and breathlessness and all those good things. But there was this comfort that was unknown to Liv. 

She knew that Ed didn’t know everything and there were still some hurdles but she felt like he was her friend. He was her partner in the whole sense of the word. He made her laugh. He gave her son baths. He let her pick the movie. He held her hand when they walked down the street without prompting or second thoughts. 

He made dinner. He got up with Noah so she could sleep in. He washed her clothes on laundry weekends. Ed was a complete person. He wasn’t searching for himself or trying to figure out which way was up. He was a mature man, not afraid to be sensitive, caring, and even wrong. 

He had insecurities but they didn’t control his entire being. He wasn’t going to leave her when he promised not to. He wasn’t going to ask for her all and then give just enough to get by. He wasn’t the same man that she met 15 years ago and she wasn’t the same woman. 

It would make little sense if they were. From the moment Liv said yes to him, she never once regretted the decision. This was so good. In the midst of the F4 tornado her life could sometimes be, this was really something good.

“You wanna read tonight and I’ll just flip channels?” he asked, hugging her tighter, kissing her, and then letting go.

“I’m getting into this Harlan Coben novel; it’s been so long since I've read a good book. But its only 9:30. I can read for an hour and then we can get really creative before bed.”

“That sounds like a plan.” Ed smiled. He reached over and grabbed the remote from the nightstand. He wasn’t completely interested in TV but could find something to occupy his mind before putting his full attention on her satisfaction.

So Liv read and Ed leaned his head on her shoulder and actually got into a special on the National Geographic Channel highlighting the hippos and crocodiles of South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. Occasionally she would glance down and he would glance up; they'd share a kiss or a smile. She felt so damn good doing absolutely nothing, how amazing was that. This was a feeling that Liv didn’t want to go away. 

All this time and she thought, was told and had experienced, that she couldn’t have it all. First, what was it all really? Second, a good man, a wonderful son, a job that fulfilled her even when it drove her to the brink of insanity, a squad that was like family, and pretty soon a dog…Liv was doing the math. She would take it and give back just as much as she had been fulfilled.

***


End file.
